The present invention relates to a multipole or multipin connector used, for example, to electrically connect various appliances to each other, as well as adapted to carry out a number of functions.
A multipole or multipin connector of such kind is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,210 issued Mar. 7, 1989.
According to the conventional multipin connector disclosed in said U.S. Patent, the multipin connector is constituted by, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 accompanying this application, a tubular shielding member 100 made of metal, a square-shaped body 200 of an insulating material inserted in the front end of the tubular shielding member 100, and a plurality of pin contacts 300 held in the square-shaped body 200 so as to mutually insulated. The multipin connector shown has a cable 400 connected thereto.
It is apparent that the metal shielding member 100 has a connection opening 101 formed at its front end, and a plug (not shown) is inserted into the connection opening 101. Front ends of the pins 301 of the pin contacts 300 are arranged so as to confront the connection opening 101.
According to the characteristic construction or design of the conventional a multipin connector, the shape of the front portion of the insulation body 200 is a square similar to a regular square, from which portion the pins 301 extend and are arranged securely in a matrix of rows and columns.
Because these pins 301 extend from and are arranged in a matrix of rows and columns on the square front portion of the insulation body 200, it is possible to advantageously obtain a multipin connector provided with the connection opening 101 having a relatively narrow or small width W even when the number of the pin contacts 300 is relatively large.
When a connector is made of an oblong shape, such as connectors for print boards or printed circuits, the more the number of poles, the longer or wider the width of the oblong connector, so that the number of poles to be used in the connector is limited.
On the contrary, when the square face of the insulation body 200 is employed and pins 301 extend from and are arranged in a matrix on the square face, it is possible to make the transverse width W of the shielding member 100 narrow and to connect a number of poles in a small available space.
According to the conventional multipin connector described above, each of the cord connection portions 302 of the pin contacts 300 has a pair of a front cord gripper and a rear cord gripper, which respectively have a pair of tongue portions erected from its plate-like side edges extending rearward from the pins 301. In a space between the tongue portions constituting one of the cord grippers, a core bundle 402 of the cord 401 is placed and then the tongue portions are crimped or caulked in order to connect electrically and mechanically the pin contacts 300 and the core bundle 402 of the cord 401 to each other. The other cord gripper grips or holds the insulation covering portion of the cord 401 when the tongue portions of the cord gripper are caulked, so that the cord 401 is mechanically held by the pin contacts 300.
It is noted that, the assembly of the conventional multipin connector disposed in the above mentioned U.S. patent requires the steps of connecting the cord 401 to the pin contacts 300, peeling off the insulation cover of the front end portion of the cord 401, exposing the core bundle 402, crimping two pairs of tongue portions formed on the pin contacts 300 to the exposed portions of the core bundle 402, and inserting the pin contacts 300 to which the cord is connected into contact housing holes 201 of the insulation body 200. The number of these steps is large and these steps are relatively troublesome, so that the assemblying of the conventional multipin connector necessitates many hours.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a multiple connector which makes it easier to connect a pin connector to a cord.
It is another purpose to provide a multipin connector having a construction enabling automated assembling of the multipin connector.